


The Shooting at Rosslyn

by Shouting_at_God_in_Latin



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Gunshot Wounds, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 07:01:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13782249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shouting_at_God_in_Latin/pseuds/Shouting_at_God_in_Latin
Summary: The Rosslyn shooting from different perspectives. Basically me just having fun writing.





	1. Chapter 1

“GUN!” shouted Gina. Shots fired one after another after another down onto the unsuspecting crowd.   
Josh’s instincts moved for him, he ran away from the noise, toward the gate that he had just walked through moments before. He aimed to go through the gate, but as adrenaline spiked and nerves shattered he missed his mark and ended up falling into to bars.  
More shots rained down on the crowd.  
Josh’s legs moved in ways they were not meant to but they got him to his feet and halfway through the gate which, at that moment, was his minds only goal.  
A man, some idiot, was running through the chaos in the opposite direction; right into the line of fire. He hit josh’s left shoulder and spun him around, making him lose his balance and start falling to the ground.   
His left knee hit the ground the same time the bullet entered his chest.   
Josh crumbled and landed flat on his back.   
More shots were fired.  
Josh was vaguely aware that his knee hurt, but mostly his mind was blank. He looked up at the cloudy night sky and subconsciously counted the shots that rang out into the night over the screams and scuffling.   
Then no more shots came. That was when he noticed the sirens blaring.   
Josh started to panic. Every fiber of his being screamed at him the same message: those sirens were bad. He was suddenly a small child, watching his house burn to the ground with his sister trapped inside and sirens blared around him. Sirens are bad.  
He found himself moving. He picked himself off the ground and somehow found the strength to stand. He staggered as best he could in the direction his mind defined as safe.

Away from the sirens. 

He managed to haul himself up a flight of stares before the world became lopsided and he flopped to the ground.   
At first he was confused. Why did he fall? His hand reached up and felt the left side of his chest. It came back wet. Only then did he have the realization that he had been shot.   
He took a stuttering breath, his mind still had some sense left in it. He put aside his instinct and was able to articulate one reasonable thought. 

Get to those sirens, the logical side of his brain commanded.

But his motor functions seemed to have stopped working after his hand felt his own blood on his shirt.   
He vaguely felt around him and found a wall. He made himself sit up and tried to use the short stone wall as a boost to stand, but it was not good. He couldn’t breathe.   
Josh stayed against the wall. He did not move, focusing on each breath. Each breath took effort, it hurt and was too short to do any good.”  
In for one second, out for one second.  
His lungs wouldn’t fill, his throat wouldn’t let the air in. All he could do was keep his mouth open ad try to get the oxygen into his lungs.   
In for one second, out for one second.  
The sirens had stopped, he realized, but the lighted still flashed. He couldn’t see the crowd, and with a jolt he realized the crowd couldn’t see him.   
Who would find him? Who would think to look?  
He heard people crying and shouting behind him. Maybe someone would be able to hear him over the noise?   
In for one second.  
He tried to use the air in his lungs to form a word. “Help!” he tried to say. But instead the world around him started to blur and he was forced to let the breath out silently and bring in more air or risk falling unconscious.

For what felt like years, he waited. He felt blood between his fingers as both hands clutched his bullet wound. He saw a man in his peripheral vision wander aimlessly about before returning back down the stairs. Hopelessness choked him along with the words on his tongue. He passed into a state of semi consciousness. He saw his surroundings with his eyes but they didn’t reach his brain. His ability to understand the world around him started to fade away.

That is when, in the back of his mind he heard his own name. 

Then he heard it again. He realized it was Toby’s voice. 

He heard it yet another time and he realized it wasn’t his imagination. Toby was yelling his name.  
Toby said it two more times before he stopped. Josh waited, but if Toby was saying something else it was drowned in the sobs and shout of the aftermath of the Rosslyn shooting.   
After an excruciating amount of time, josh heard it again.  
“Josh!” said Toby. He was closer, on the stairs.  
“Didn’t you hear me shouting for you?” He sounded annoyed. And relieved. But Josh didn’t notice either. He just waited, waited for Toby Ziegler to help him, for anyone to help him.  
“I didn’t know where the hell you –” Toby turned the corner and his sentence caught in his throat.  
Josh stared at Toby. No pleading looks or stuttering whispers. He needed Toby to help him, but he was to detached from reality to ask for the help.   
“I need a—” Another sentence died in Toby’s throat.   
“I need a doctor,” He said at his normal, inside voice.  
“I need help!” he screamed.  
That was all Josh needed to hear. His last bit of adrenaline and cognitive function stuttered and died.  
As the world darkened, he was vaguely aware of Toby dropping to his knees and catching Josh before his head hit the pavement.


	2. Chapter 2

“GUN!” shouted Gina. Shots fired one after another after another down onto the unsuspecting crowd.   
Toby was standing right next to the president. The moment Gina screamed Secret Service agents collided with him in order to protect the president, sending Toby sprawling. The back of his head hit the bars of the fence from the rope line. People were running over him as he lay on his back in the middle of the action.  
He turned to his stomach when the last shot fired. He waited a few seconds, then he stood.  
Sirens were blaring and he stood just in time to see the president getting put into a car. The care drove away, second in line of a precession that consisted of two police cars and another limo that look just like his, probably holding Zoe.   
Sam stood from the ground and shouted for a doctor from one of the ambulances. Toby approached him, and from another end of the parking lot, Leo had the same idea.  
“You alright?” Toby half shouted over the sirens and screaming people.  
“I’m fine,” Sam assured him. “C.J. hit her head on the ground and she’s unconscious but she’ll be fine.”   
“Sam!” someone yelled and Same went off to find whoever said it.  
“Mr. McGarry,” said a Secret Service office Toby vaguely recalled as Phil. Or Joseph… “Mr. McGarry we need to put you in a car, now.”  
Leo and Toby both looked over to a car that was waiting with it’s door open.  
“Josh is supposed to be in this car,” Leo said, “this car is supposed to be for me and my deputy.”  
“We can’t locate Josh at the moment sir,” the agent said. “He didn’t come to the cars like he was supposed to and he’s nowhere in the parking lot.”  
“Dammit Josh,” said Leo, “He gave up his stupid National Security card and now he’s probably assumed he can’t get in the damn car.”  
“Mr. McGarry,” the agent said again, gesturing to the car.  
Leo nodded and headed to the car. At the last second before he got in he grabbed Toby’s arm.  
“Do me a favor and find Josh.”  
Toby nodded, already planning on looking around for him, and watched Leo get into his car with Shanahan and drive away.  
Toby turned and looked at the mess of people that had formed. He saw that CJ was sitting up and talking to a doctor. He doubted it would be easy to find Josh in that mess.  
“Josh!?” he half shouted. Toby almost laughed at himself. All he did was shout in the office and now outside with people screaming he couldn’t muster an above average volume.  
“JOS!?” he said a bit louder wandering through the large crowd.   
“Josh!?”  
He moved past the gate they had just walked out of and found Charlie.  
“Hey, Charlie, you okay?” he asked absent mindedly.  
“Yeah,” Charlie responded.  
“Have you seen Josh?”   
“He got in the car with Leo.”  
Toby looked around vaguely and told Charlie, “No—no he didn’t, Shanahan got in with Leo. Josh didn’t get in the car.”  
Charlie gave Toby a small shrug in reply. Then his focus got diverted to a woman asking for help. Toby didn’t bother looking over, instead he turned around to the building he had walked out of what felt like years earlier. He scanned the few groups sitting on the stairs, and then he saw a familiar shape sitting with his back to a small stone wall, facing the building.  
“Josh!” Toby said, jogging up the stairs to meet him.  
Suddenly Toby felt a bit of annoyance. He wasn’t helping some person who had been trampled or trying to give a hand to the doctors, he was just sitting on his ass.  
“Didn’t you hear me shouting for you?” asked Toby. “I didn’t know where the hell you-”  
Toby’s voice died in his throat. He looked at his friend. Josh stared at him, mouth slightly open, gasping for breath. Both his hands were clasped over his his chest. Through his fingers flowed blood from a bullet wound.  
“I need a—” Toby’s voice died again. He repositioned himself and tried again “I need a doctor!”  
Josh’s eye lids dropped slightly and his ridged stature became less so.  
“I need help!”   
Toby dropped to his knees and caught Josh as he slumped to the side. He eased Josh to the ground as Sam and C.J. ran up to them.   
C.J. put her hands on the gunshot wound as Josh’s body went limp and his hands slipped away. Toby was still holding josh’s neck and head so it didn’t lull to one side and make it harder for him to breath. A trick that he had learned from his father.  
A doctor appeared by C.J. and she took her hands away. The doctor looked at the bullet wound, then she lifted Josh slightly to look at his back.  
“NO EXIT-- I NEED AN AMBULANCE” she shouted over her shoulder.  
A few men were running over with a gurney while another kneeled at Josh’s head and started cutting away his shirt and taking off his jacket. Toby backed away from the scene, letting doctors surrounded Josh. C.J. and Sam joined him.   
Sam sat on the wall and put his head between his knees. Toby never thought of Sam as hemophobic but, then again, he had never seen Sam in a situation like this one so how would he have known?  
“You alright?” Toby put his hand on Sam’s shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. Toby’s brotherly instincts were acting up again, he really wished that would stop.  
“Yeah,” he said, lifting his head. “There are only two people allowed in the ambulance with him. I’m gonna run a block and grab a cab and meet you guys at the hospital.”  
Toby looked at the hoard of doctors that were putting Josh on a gurney.  
“Alright, you better hurry.” Sam stood and briskly walked past the doctors. He slowed slightly to look at josh but then hurried along again.   
Toby turned to look at C.J.   
“I have his blood on my hands.” She said no more, just stared at Josh until the swarm of doctors brought him to the ambulance.   
It was a short and painful ride to the hospital. Josh slipped in and out of consciousness, muttering slightly, losing blood. The same sentence passed through Toby’s mind, over and over again. 

How could they have gone so long? How could Josh have been left to bleed?

Toby thought back to a shooting he had been in when he was twenty-seven. That one had lasted longer, there had been more injuries. Why did this one hurt more?  
With a sharp stop they arrived at the hospital.   
“Gun shot wound! No exit!” a woman called to the doctors rushing toward them.  
Toby and C.J. ran beside the gurney as it was pushed through the hospital. Toby saw Leo running toward them.  
“It’s Josh!” shouted C.J.  
“Josh!” Leo ran up a looked at josh on the gurney. “What happened?”  
“He was behind us, we didn’t see him,” said toby, but the second part was drowned out by a nearby nurse.  
“Josh I’m here!” said Sam somewhere behind them.  
Josh wasn’t doing well enough to hear him. He was starting to have hallucinations as far as Toby could tell. He was taking off his oxygen mask.  
“I shouldn’t be at this meeting,” he said in a raspy voice.  
They pushed Josh through a doorway and into trauma one.  
“Senator,” Josh mumbled louder.  
“Tell me what’s happening!” said Leo.  
“I shouldn’t be at this meeting,” Josh said again, “I need to get to New Hampshire.”  
Sam had somehow fought his way to Josh’s side. Despite the blood, he leaned over Josh and spoke.  
“You went to New Hampshire, we both did,” he said, “you came and got me.”  
They moved out of the room as doctors swarmed Josh. Sam leaned against the wall of the hallway.  
“Good job in there,” said Toby.   
“Thanks.”  
Toby turned to Leo, “why are you here” he asked. It sounded rude but Toby didn’t care.  
Leo looked at Toby, then his eyes flitted to Sam and CJ. “The president was hit” he said solemnly.   
Toby, CJ, and Sam gave Leo a startled look.  
“He’s fine.” Leo raised his hands, “it didn’t hit anything, I was able to talk to him before they put him under anesthesia.”  
Toby put his hands on his hips and sighed.   
“Okay,” he said, shifting from foot to foot. He had nothing else to say. Toby looked back at Josh.   
This is going to be a long night, he thought.


	3. Chapter 3

“GUN!” shouted Gina. Shots fired one after another after another down onto the unsuspecting crowd.  
Sam had been looking in Gina’s direction at the time. His head quickly snapped toward the building that Gina was looking at and vaguely comprehended that there were people standing in the window with guns in their hands.   
Sam’s body seemed to want to follow many instincts at once, including dropping to the ground, running toward the shooters to try to get out of their line of sight, and running away from the shooters. In the end, that concluded to him doing the equivalent of a twisted dance before and realizing that he hadn’t actually moved.   
He became aware of CJ next to him, doing, what he could only assume, was the exact same thing as him. She had her back to the shooters and Sam saw one of them move his arm slightly toward the area of the crowd where Sam and CJ stood. His first instinct won him over as he grabbed CJ and very forcefully pulled her to the ground.   
A car window shattered above them, showering them with shards of glass. Sam flinched, waiting for one of those shards to impale him. They didn’t, probably because they were too small. Or maybe glass doesn’t usually impale people and Sam had just read too many books.  
Suddenly, the firing stopped. Sam waited a moment, then moved slightly in an attempt to let CJ up. She didn’t move.   
Sam’s heart leapt into his chest as he frantically searched her for the bullet wound he was positive he would find. Then he realized that when pulling her down he had basically slammed her head of the pavement.  
Sam stood and shouted to an ambulance that was just starting to arrive.  
“I need a doctor over here,” he yelled.  
Toby and Leo followed behind the doctor.  
“You alright?” Toby half shouted over the sirens and screaming people.  
“I’m fine,” Sam assured him. “C.J. hit her head on the ground and she’s unconscious but she’ll be fine.”  
Leo and Toby seemed to relax and Leo did a small turn.  
Sam looked around as well. Everyone seemed shaken and scared but no one looked injured as far as he could tell. People milled about aimlessly, unsure of where to stand to stay out of the way. Through the crowd Sam caught a glance of someone he knew.   
“Sam!” called Charlie from a few feet away.   
Sam left Toby and Leo, and with a glancing at C.J, who was being roused, he walked over to Charlie.   
“You okay?” Charlie asked.  
“Yeah, I’m fine. Have you seen the President?”  
Charlie nodded, “they put him and Zoe in a car and they’re on their way back to the White House”  
“Okay.” Both Charlie and Sam looked around. They were restless, trying to find something that resembled comfort in the crowds. They watched Leo get put into a car and drive away. Sam fidgeted with his jacket cuffs, a habit his father had when he was nervous. Interesting that Sam had the same tick… He felt something tangled in his cuff-link. He looked down and untangled the small chain from his sleeve. He withdrew a small golden necklace that he recognized as CJ’s. It must have gotten caught when he pulled her to the ground. He turned to where he had left CJ and saw that she was sitting up on a car and the doctor he had called over was moving away. “I’ll be right back,” he told Charlie, carrying the necklace over to CJ.  
“CJ!” he called.  
CJ turned to face him.  
“Are you alright?” he asked.  
“Where’s the president?” asked CJ, sounding worried. She grabbed Sam’s arm as she said it.  
“He’s on his way back to the White House. So is Zoe and they just put Leo in a car,” he told her, “are you alright?” he asked again.   
She didn’t sound alright. She sounded shaken and close to tears. All she said was. “Somebody pulled me down.”  
Looking at CJ, he didn’t want to tell her. What was he supposed to say? Yeah, hi, I saved your life, here’s your necklace back? What would she say back? He quietly slipped her necklace into her pocket and looked away.   
“Gina!” he called, spotting her walking by.  
“Can’t talk right now,” she told him as she passed, headed towards a group of agents.  
Sam turned back to CJ.  
“Do we know anything about the shooters?” she asked.  
“Only that they tried to kill the president and that they’re most likely dead now.”  
CJ nodded. “I’m probably going to need a bit more for the press briefings.”  
“Yeah probably.”  
“Oh my God.” CJ was at something behind Sam with eyes wide.   
Sam spun and saw a woman being carried on a stretcher.  
Her leg was covered in blood and a few doctors were cutting away soaked pieces of fabric and replacing them with bandages.   
Sam’s stomach flipped. He had never liked the sight of blood. He had never told anyone about it, but, then again, he never expected to be in a situation where anyone would find out. Lawyers usually talk to the murders or the victims after the blood had been washed away.   
CJ and Sam watched as the woman was loaded into an ambulance and driven to the hospital. She was conscious, which Sam assumed was a good sign.   
As they watched the ambulance drive away Sam heard Toby say something from behind him:  
“I need help!”  
Sam whipped around. He had just seen Toby! He couldn’t be hurt. Unless there was still a shooter.   
Sam scanned behind him until he saw Toby, at the top of the stairs, dropping to his knees. It took Sam a moment to realize it wasn’t because he was hurt. Toby reached out and caught someone, lowering them to the ground.   
Sam and CJ were already racing up the stairs. A few steps into the run he recognized the person who had gone limp.   
Josh. Oh God.

CJ had a head start, and the moment she got there she put her hands on Josh’s chest while Toby held his head. Sam realized that CJ was holding a bullet wound. Josh’s blood ran through her fingers from a hole in his chest that was dangerously close to his heart.  
A doctor appeared behind CJ and took over for her. As a swarm of doctors surrounded Josh, Toby, CJ, and Sam backed away from the scene.  
The world was spinning. Sam couldn’t look at Josh without wanting to faint. He felt like he was going blind, spots were appearing in his vision. Slowly, he felt around for the small wall they stood by and sat down against it, putting his head between his knees to stop from losing consciousness.   
Sam felt a hand on his shoulder.  
“You alright?”   
“Yeah,” he said, lifting his head. He looked back at Josh and got dizzy again. He wouldn’t make it through an ambulance ride to the hospital like this. He would only be an annoyance anyway.   
“There are only two people allowed in the ambulance with him. I’m gonna run a block and grab a cab and meet you guys at the hospital.” Sam hoped it didn’t sound like he was finding excuses or chickening out of being there for his friend.  
“Alright,” said Toby, “you better hurry.”   
Sam stood and hurried past Josh. He slowed slightly and looked at Josh. He avoided the blood and focused on his face. Josh was semiconscious and groaning, rocking his head trying to see what was around him. Sam looked away and ran down the steps. That was worse than the blood.

It was surprisingly easy to find a cab. He ran a few streets in the direction of the hospital and he saw one letting out a woman on the side of the road.   
“Taxi!” he shouted, and it waited for him.  
The woman looked startled as Sam ran past her and jumped into the cab seconds after she got out but Sam didn’t really care.   
“GW hospital,” he told the driver.  
Sam let himself breath, resting his head on the back of the seat. Toby and CJ had jumped into action like people do in movies. The only impressive thing he had done was prevent himself from fainting. He did nothing to help Josh. Josh was his best friend. He should have been there for him. All he could think about was times where Josh was there for him. When he tried to take the hit for Sam when he messed up. Josh was the one who convinced Sam to go back into speechwriting. Josh was the reason he worked at the White House.   
The driver seemed to have deduced the urgency of Sam’s problem by his mannerism and the fact he was going to a hospital. He zoomed through the streets to the hospital faster than would have been deemed safe.  
The cab suddenly slowed to a stop.   
“Um. Sir?” said the driver.  
Sam looked up and saw that a police line had been set up around the hospital.   
“Thanks,” said Sam, “I can go from here.”   
Sam got out of the cab, paid the driver, and rushed to the police line. He was determined to do better this time. When he saw Josh next he wouldn’t shy away.   
Sam made his way to the main entrance around the police line. The ambulance that must have been holding Josh flew past him and parked outside the front door. Sam headed towards it but an officer stopped him.  
“No… My names Sam Seaborne, I work for the White House and I need to get in here.”  
He didn’t even wonder why there was a police line until now. Was it protocol to make one after someone shoots at the president? Sam tried to explain himself to an unimpressed police officer as Josh was taken into the hospital.   
“I’m sorry sir, I can’t let you through.”  
“Listen,” said Sam, “That’s my best friend being taken into that hospital. I. Work. At. The. White. House. I think if anyone was a security risk it would be someone who didn’t work in the same building as the president every day.”  
“I’m sorry sir –” began the officer.  
“Let him through” interrupted a voice from behind the officer.  
Special Agent Ron Butterfield walked towards them. His hand was heavily bandaged but he had the same straight face as always.   
“Go on in, Sam,” he monotoned.  
“Why are you here?”   
“Go on in.”  
“Why aren’t you with the president?”  
“Sam,” Ron gestured to the door where Josh was already inside.  
Sam didn’t stand around to ask any more questions. He ran into the hospital and looked at the group inside.

Leo was there, he was running up to the group, his face pail.  
Sam heard Toby say   
“He was behind us—” but the rest was drowned out by a nurse saying something Sam didn’t understand.   
Josh moved around, he seemed to be conscious.   
“Josh I’m here!” shouted Sam. Probably stupid since Josh probably couldn’t hear him, but whatever.  
Sam fought his way to the front of the group as they entered entered a hospital room. Josh seemed to be hallucinating.   
“Senator,” Josh mumbled, his oxygen mask hanging from his hand. The tube to the tank was stained with blood. Sam swallowed the lump in his throat and stayed close to Josh.  
“Tell me what’s happening!” said Leo, looking at Josh as well.  
“I shouldn’t be at this meeting,” Josh said, “I need to get to New Hampshire.”  
Sam stared at Josh. Could it be possible they were thinking of the same thing? Could Josh be talking about when he first went to see the President?  
Sam maneuvered his way to Josh’s side and leaned over him. Trying to ignore the blood he spoke.  
“You went to New Hampshire, we both did,” he said, “you came and got me.”  
Josh stopped muttering but Sam wasn’t sure that was because of him.   
As the doctors started their surgery Sam, Toby, Leo, and C.J. stepped outside.  
Sam felt dizzy again. He slumped against the wall and focused on his own breathing.   
“Good job in there,” Toby told him.   
“Thanks.”  
Toby turned to Leo, “why are you here” he asked.   
It sounded rude but Leo didn’t seem to mind.   
Leo looked at Toby, then his eyes flitted to Sam and CJ. “The president was hit” he said solemnly.   
That was why Ron was outside, Sam thought. He felt sick. First Josh, now the president.   
“He’s fine.” Leo raised his hands, “it didn’t hit anything, I was able to talk to him before they put him under anesthesia.”  
Toby put his hands on his hips and sighed.   
“Okay,” he said.   
Sam looked around for a water fountain. He was going to be here a while.   
This is going to be a long night, he thought.


	4. Chapter 4

“GUN!” shouted Gina. Shots fired one after another after another down onto the unsuspecting crowd.

But CJ didn’t remember that. All she knew is that she woke up with a strange man kneeling over her.

CJ flinched and jerked slightly. The man caught her and spoke.

“Ma’am I’m a doctor I’m just checking your head. Could you sit up for me?”

Following the man’s gestures CJ stood and sat on the hood of the car.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“CJ Cregg,” she half shouted over the noisy crowd. They were in Rosslyn still. CJ remembered walking out of the building with the president…

“What day is it?” asked the doctor, taking something out of a medical kit.

“It’s Monday,” said CJ shortly.

She looked around. She didn’t see the president. Her head hurt. Then she noticed lots of cars had shattered windows. And people were crying…

“What’s going on here?” CJ asked.

“As far as I know someone shot at the president.”

“WHAT?!”

“Mrs. Cregg I need you to stay calm. You hit your head on the pavement really hard and I need you to focus on the questions I’m asking you.”

“I’m really fine!” she said, “I hit my head on the ground,” she said more to herself, “somebody pulled me down…”

“Are you CJ Cregg?” the man asked again.

“Yeah,” she replied annoyed.

“Can you tell me what day it is?” he said again.

“It’s still Monday.”

“Okay CJ, you’re more shaken up than anything else, I don’t think your going to need stitches but you should find some place to lie down.”

CJ lost her patience.

“Is the president dead?”

“I wouldn’t know anything about that.” With that the doctor stood and walked off to some other victim of the shooting she seemed to have missed.

CJ walked around to where she was lying before and picked up her shawl. On her way back up she saw the window of the car she was sitting on was shattered. Someone had pulled her down. If they hadn’t she would have been dead. That window wouldn’t have a chip, and she would be dead.

 

“Are you alright?”

CJ jumped around so fast Sam took a step back in surprise.

“What?” she asked.

“Are you alright?” he asked again.

Then she remembered why the people were shooting.

“Where’s the president?” she grabbed Sam’s arm, waiting for him to tell her Jed Bartlet was dead.

“He’s on his way back to the White House,” he said instead, “So is Zoe, and they just put Leo in a car. Are you alright?”

“Somebody pulled me down…” she said again.

Sam looked uncomfortable and said nothing. He looked around.

“Gina!” he said suddenly.

“Can’t talk right now,” she replied, hurrying by.  

CJ watched Gina run by with purpose. She realized that she would have to do her job tonight. She didn’t even remember what happened. How long had she been unconscious? Had they caught the shooters?

“Do we know anything about the shooters?” she asked.

“Only that they tried to kill the president and that they’re most likely dead now.”

CJ nodded. “I’m probably going to need a bit more for the press briefings.”

“Yeah probably.”

Then something caught her eye and she focused on something behind Sam.

“Oh my God.” Behind Sam, a woman was being carried on a stretcher. It looked like the bullet had hit her in the thigh. Doctors were wrapping her leg with bandages. CJ figured she would be fine.

Then she heard Toby.

“I need a doctor!”

CJ whipped around and scanned behind her.

“I need help!”

CJ spotted Toby at the top of the stairs, dropping to his knees. She didn’t hesitate, she ran up the stairs to Toby as he lowered someone to the ground.

The man’s hands were clutching a gunshot wound, but they slipped away as Toby lowered him to the ground. CJ quickly put her hands on the man’s chest wound to try to stop the flow.

Oh God. That was a mistake. The blood was warm and flowed through her fingers and onto the back of her hands. She could feel his heart beat depending on how fast the blood was flowing onto her hands. She looked up and the mans face.

 

Josh.

 

Suddenly, feeling his heartbeat was so much worse than before. At least it meant he was alive.

A doctor grabbed her arm and took her place. CJ moved off to the side and Toby and Sam followed her. She stared at Josh as doctors swarmed him.

There was a horrible ringing in her ears and her head throbbed. She hadn’t even realized she was trying to help one of her best friends. And her head injury wasn’t helping matters.

“You okay?” She heard Toby say.

C.J looked over at him. He was talking to Sam, who was sitting on the floor with his head between his knees. Why…? She didn’t think about it much. It hurt to think.   

“Yeah,” he said. Sam ran a hand through his hair. “Only two people are allowed in the ambulance with him. I’m gonna run a block and grab a cab and meet you guys at the hospital.”

CJ was pretty sure they could squeeze him into the ambulance, but she didn’t feel like talking.

“Alright,” said Toby, “you better hurry.”

When Sam was gone Toby looked at Josh, then CJ.

“I have his blood on my hands.” That’s all she could say. That’s all she could think about. She kept them raised slightly, as though trying to keep her outfit clean. She had never had any problem with blood before, but she had this itch. She needed to wash Josh’s blood off of her hands. The blood was going to dry like that. Josh’s blood. On her hands. She might as well have stabbed him. That was what it looked like. She just stared at Josh. Her friend. She was a sheltered girl from a small town with a math teacher for a father. She worked in press. In politics. She never expected to have to feel someone else’s blood. Her friend’s blood.

The ambulance was a blur. CJ just stopped thinking. She had never been able to do that before. She briefly wondered if she should be more nervous about her head injury. Then she stopped thinking again.

 

The ambulance came to a sharp stop and they unloaded Josh onto a gurney.

“Gun shot wound, no exit!”

CJ could barely hear over the sirens. Josh was hurried into the emergency center with CJ and Toby running behind.

“Who is it?!”

CJ looked around to see Leo running towards them.

“It’s Josh.”

A nurse said something about needing an IV.

“Josh I’m here!”

Sam was running up behind them. Josh didn’t seem to be able to hear him. He was pulling off his oxygen mask, mumbling about meetings.

Even delusional, Josh was working.

“What happened?” asked Leo.

“He was behind us—” Toby began, but the rest was drowned out by another nurse.

Josh’s delusions seemed to be growing.

“I shouldn’t be at this meeting,” he said hoarsely. “I need to get to New Hampshire.”

Josh looked as though he was trying to get off the gurney. A nurse kept him pinned as they rolled into trauma one.

New Hampshire? What was he saying? When was the last time Josh had been to New Hampshire? The election?

Sam seemed to understand. He went over to Josh’s side and bent down so Josh could here.

“You went to New Hampshire, we both did. You came and got me.”

“One, two, three.” The nurses and doctors moved Josh from the gurney to the operating table. Someone put his oxygen mask back on.

CJ, Toby, Sam, and Leo were being ushered out of the room as CJ heard the doctor speak.

“Josh, a bullet collapsed your lung. We’re putting in a tube to re-inflate it—”

The door shut behind them.

Collapsed a lung? Did that mean Oxygen wasn’t getting to his brain? CJ suddenly had horrible thoughts of brain damage. What if he had a different personality coming out of this? Was that possible?

She hadn’t noticed Toby was talking. She brought her mind to the present just as Sam spoke in reply.

“Thanks,” he said.

CJ didn’t ask for the conversation to be repeated. She didn’t really care.

Toby turned to Leo, “why are you here” he asked.

Leo looked at Toby, then his eyes flitted to CJ and Sam. “The president was hit” he said solemnly.

CJ couldn’t find her way through all the thoughts that slammed her at once. Worrying about the president’s wellbeing, what she was going to say to the press, and the thought of having Hoynes as a president all flashed through her mind.

 “He’s fine.” Leo raised his hands, “it didn’t hit anything, I was able to talk to him before they put him under anesthesia.”

CJ took a deep breath. Relief flooded her. He would be fine. It was clear that the one to worry about was Josh.

“Okay,” Toby sighed.

CJ wondered how long she would be able to stay here. She wanted to sit here and wait for Josh and the president, but she would have to brief the press soon. What she needed was running water to wash off Josh’s blood. Then she could, at least, fidget. She thought about the press that were probably already filing into their seats to wait for her briefing.

This is going to be a long night, she thought.

 


	5. Chapter 5

“GUN!” shouted Gina. Shots fired one after another after another down onto the unsuspecting crowd.

Three Secret Service agents slammed into Leo and pinned him to the ground. He tried to lift his head to look over to the President but an agent pulled him back down.

“Stay down, stay down,” he said.

Leo stayed down.

When the shooting had stopped Leo was allowed up right away. Shanahan stayed by his side as the other two went off somewhere to Leo’s left.

Leo was able to see the President being put into a car by Ron Butterfield. Ron got in behind him and drove away. A car holding Zoe drove behind it.

Leo looked around. He had other people here. Others he needed to know were safe. He scanned the crowds of people for his senior staff. He found Sam stand up from behind a police car and wave to a doctor. Leo walked over to him.

Sam met him about half way. They were joined by Toby, who must have also seen Sam.

 “You alright?” Toby half shouted over the sirens and screaming people.

“I’m fine,” Sam assured him. “C.J. hit her head on the ground and she’s unconscious but she’ll be fine.”   

Leo breathed. Okay. He could tell the President all of this. He would go to the White House in the car that the Secret Service was suppose to provide. He would meet Josh in that car. All he needed was to find Charlie. Make sure he was okay. Zoe probably knew that.

“Sam!” Charlie’s voice. Good. Sam went to go find him.

“Mr. McGarry,” said one of his Secret Service agents. “Mr. McGarry we need to put you in a car, now.”

Leo and Toby both looked over to a car that was waiting with it’s door open.

“Josh is supposed to be in this car,” Leo said, “this car is supposed to be for me and my deputy.”

“We can’t locate Josh at the moment sir,” the agent said. “He didn’t come to the cars like he was supposed to and he’s nowhere in the parking lot.”

“Dammit Josh,” said Leo, “He gave up his stupid National Security card and now he’s probably assumed he can’t get in the damn car.”

Leo was irate. Didn’t Josh know he needed to check in? There was a shooting, the first thing you do is make sure people were okay. You don’t just run off. For all Leo knew, he could be dead in a ditch somewhere… He shouldn’t have thought of that.

“Mr. McGarry,” the agent said again, gesturing to the car.

Leo nodded and headed to the car. He kept thinking about Josh. Was it possible he was injured? At the last second before he got in he grabbed Toby’s arm.

“Do me a favor and find Josh.”

Toby nodded and Leo got into the car. Shanahan got in behind him, closed the door, and signaled for the driver to go.

“So you’re my babysitter, huh?” Leo asked him.

Shanahan shrugged slightly.

Leo slowed his breath. He had to relax. He would talk to the President at the White House. Then they’d go down to the Situation Room.

“Do you know anything I don’t about the shooters?” he asked Shanahan.

“There were two of them. We got them from the roof.”

“They’re dead?”

Shanahan nodded.

“Do we know ethnicity?”

“White. Other than that we don’t know anything.”

“What about people on the ground?”

“I haven’t heard anything about bodies. We’d see them right away from the roof.”

Leo nodded. That was good enough to not sound like an idiot to Nancy and Fitz. The phone in the car rang and Shanahan answered it.

“Shanahan,” he said.

He listened for a few minutes. Then knocked on the widow to the drive.

“GW BLUE.”

The car turned immediately and started driving in another direction.

“What’s happening?”

“We’re going to the hospital.”

“I’m not shot.”

“The President is.”

Leo couldn’t even comprehend it. The President had been shot? He had no idea what happened next. What’s supposed to happen after? Something told him this was his fault. Why? Because he had gotten Jed to run? That’s a pretty hard connection to make. He got Jed Bartlett elected president and close to two years later he’s being driven to a hospital at full speed during a national emergency.

The car pulled into the hospital. Leo noticed the Secret Service was setting up a perimeter around the hospital. Leo realized he had no idea where he was. He didn’t really know where GW hospital was in comparison the to White House. He’d need to be driven back.

He ran through the halls as Secret Service agents called out directions for him. He burst through a pair of double doors to see the President, lying on his back, mouth open to breath, surrounded by doctors.

Leo noticed Zoe standing next to him.

“How you doing, kid?”

“I’m fine,” she said softly, hugging herself.

“She booted all over the back of her car. You know they’re gonna bill me for that.”

So, he was joking around. It put an answer to the question of how the great Jed Bartlet acts under literal fire.

“Yeah,” Leo replied.

“Honey,” the President said to his daughter, “do me a favor, will you?”

“Yeah. I’ll step outside. I’ll go wait for mom.”

“Tell her not to frighten the doctors. I’ll see you in a couple hours.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Leo gave Zoe what he hoped was a comforting nod as she left. He moved closer to the President. The doctors had stopped swarming as so much, now they were mostly focused on the machines. One had anesthesia. Didn’t doctors need to do something special with anesthesia when it came to people with MS? Abby would know.

“Anybody killed back there?”

“The two shooters. They got them through the window.”

“What about our people.”

“CJ hit her head on the ground, but other than that.”

The President sat for a moment. Breathing.

“Get the cabinet together,” he said, “and the security council. Tell Jerome to suspend trading on the stock exchange.”

“Yeah.” Always working. Like a good president should be. He even remembered Jerome’s name. When Leo was fully conscious he had trouble remembering Jerome’s name.

“Do we know who the shooters were?”

“No.”

“I’m going to be under anesthesia for a couple of hours.”

“It’ll be fine.” Leo wasn’t sure what they were discussing. That he and Hoynes would take care of the stock exchange and the investigation of the shooters? Of course they would. Or was he talking about MS?

 “You know what I’m talking about, right?”

“I’ll talk to Abby.”

A doctor got Leo’s attention. “Sir, it’s time.”

Leo started to move outside when he was called back.

“Hey. Come here.”

The President gestured for Leo to come closer. Leo leans in, assuming the President wanted to whisper something to him. Instead, he kissed Leo on the cheek. A friendly, comforting kiss from on friend to another.

“It’s okay,” he whispered.

Not fearfully, not to himself, a promise to his oldest friend.

“I’ll see you in a few hours, Mr. President.”

Leo walked away. He felt the President relax as he went.

Leo wasn’t three feet down the hall when before he was intercepted.

“You’re Leo McGarry?” the man asked.

“Yes.”

“I’m Dr. Keller, I’m the trauma surgeon on duty.”

“Well, you hit the lottery tonight, didn’t you Dr. Keller.”

“Yes, well. I was wondering if you, or anyone else had any questions before we begin. I have a few moments. I just spoke to Mrs. Bartlet over the phone –”

“She’ll want to talk to you in person too.” Leo heard sirens in front of the building. “I’ll bet that’s her.”

Abbey and Zoe were coming out of a huge when Leo got within earshot.

“—dad’s making jokes,” Zoe told her mother.

“Good ones?”

“No,” she said shaking her head.

“Abbey,” said Leo, “this is Dr. Keller.”

“Oh, yes we spoke in the car.”

“Hello,” said Dr. Keller with clear anxiety.

“What’s his PO2?”

“Good. It’s a hundred.”

“You’re gonna do a laparoscopy?”

“Yes. We want to make sure the peritoneum’s intact.”

“Mm-hmm. Who’s the anesthesiologist?”

“Dr. Lee.”

 _That must be MS related_ , Leo thought.

“You’ll be okay honey?” Abbey asked her daughter.

“Yeah.”

Abby walked off toward, Leo assumed, where Dr. Lee would be stationed. Zoe sat down in the waiting room with Mike. Where was Gina?

“I’ve got to get started,” said Dr. Keller.

“Thank you.”

Dr. Keller walked back to the President.  

Leo looked around. He found himself wandering. Near the emergency entrance he saw Gina standing near a doorway. Leo approached her and put his arm up on the wall. She looked pale, lost in thought.

“You alright?”

“Yeah.”

“Was there someone on the ground?”

“There was a signal. I couldn’t give a description.”

“Did they close the airports?”

“And Union Station. We’ve got troopers on the bridges and 300 field workers at Roslyn but… I can’t tell them what their looking for.”

She thought she had failed. Leo couldn’t believe it. He had been marveling about how quickly the Secret Service had jumped into action he had never assumed Gina would be feeling this way. Wasn’t she the one to give the warning? That second between the moment she screamed “gun” and the moment the shooting began could have saved lives.

Leo heard a faint siren approaching the hospital. He assumed it was a cop car there for the police line.

“You got the girl in the car Gina,” he told her. That was her job and she did it well.

“It’s right in front of my face.”

“Look—”

Leo stopped. The sirens were very loud now. They were right outside the door. An ambulance pulled up in front of the door.

Leo heard a muffled “gun shot wound, no exit!”

The doors slammed open and someone was pulled in on a gurney. Leo could see the blood from a far. They hadn’t known anyone was that hurt. He stepped forward and his heart leapt into his throat. Toby and CJ walked/jogged next to the gurney. CJ had blood on her hands.

“Who is it?!” Leo asked, running up to them.

“It’s Josh!” CJ said back.

Leo was suddenly felt deflated. He should have made someone search for Josh instead of just getting in the car without him.

“Josh!” he shouted over the doctors.

A paramedic said something about trauma. Leo felt dizzy.

“What happened?” He asked.

“He was behind us…” the last part of Toby’s statement was drowned out by the paramedic, talking about a single gunshot wound.

Leo finally got a look at Josh. They had cut away his shirt and Leo could see the bloody hole is his chest. _In his chest_. How close to the heart had it come? It couldn’t be more than a few inches. Josh had been inches, centimeters from death and Leo had just driven away.

“Josh I’m here!” it was Sam. He ran through the doorway of the hospital.

Josh started moving. Leo wasn’t sure if he was responding to Sam or if it was a coincidence. He was grabbing at the oxygen mask over his mouth. One of the rubber bands came loose and he forced it off his face. Leo had a strong urge to swat Josh’s hands away and put the mask back on his face, but instead he stayed to the side and out of the doctor’s way.

Josh started to mutter to himself.

“I shouldn’t be at this meeting,” he said.

Leo became even more worried. He looked at the doctor and nurses, but none of them seemed to be worried.

“Trauma One’s ready,” said a nurse.

No one even put the mask back on.

“Senator…” said Josh. He was delusional. He was getting worse, louder.

“Tell me what’s happening,” Leo demanded.

“I don’t have time,” the doctor told responded.

The gurney entered Trauma One and stopped in the middle.

“I shouldn’t be at this meeting,” Josh said. “I need to get to New Hampshire.”

Josh was starting to move. He tried to sit up, but was pushed back down by the nurse. Sam had somehow fought his way to Josh’s side.

“You went to New Hampshire,” he assured Sam, “we both did. You came and got me.”

The doctor and nurses changed Josh from his gurney to an operating table. Leo, Toby, CJ, and Sam were herded out of Trauma One. Someone had put Josh’s mask back on his face. The doctor was speaking.

“Josh, a bullet collapsed your lung, we’re putting in a tube to re-inflate it…”

The door closed behind them.

The four of them stood for a moment. Leo got over the initial shock, replacing it with deep stress and worry.

“Good job in there,” Toby said to Sam. Leo assumed he was talking about Sam’s comment to Josh.

“Thanks.”

Toby turned to Leo, “Why are you here” he asked. Under any other circumstances, Leo would’ve taken that as rude. But now…

He looked over to the exhausted faces of CJ and Sam. Both looked pale, weak. Like Leo felt. Toby looked stronger, more sullen than anything else. But Leo figured it was an act.

“The President was hit,” Leo told them.

Toby, CJ, and Sam jumped. They all gave Leo startled looked.

“He’s fine.” Leo raised his hands, trying to predict their questions. “It didn’t hit anything. I was able to talk to him before they put him under anesthesia.”

The three of them seemed to deflate.

“Okay,” said Toby, shifting from foot to foot.

Leo looked around the hospital. He would have to go back to the White House. The situation room would be waiting. So would the Vice President. He would need to follow tedious searches for a man that might have information on an attack that could be domestic or global terrorism. He was hoping to be in bed by now.

It was going to be a long night, he thought.


End file.
